KEY TAKEAWAYS
Shares in MicroStrategy ( MSTR ), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin ( BTCUSD ), jumped pre-market and then reversed course to trade lower Monday after the the software company said it had bought $5.4 billion of the cryptocurrency.
In a filing Monday, the company said that between Nov. 18 and Nov. 24, it had acquired around 55,500 bitcoins for around $5.4 billion. It now holds around 386,700 bitcoins, worth roughly $37 billion at current prices.
MicroStrategy Builds On Its Bitcoin Stash
The company said it had financed the recent bitcoin purchases from its sale of convertible bonds and new stock in the past week. It had also bought $4.6 billion worth of bitcoin in the prior week .
MicroStrategy's acquisitions have come as the cryptocurrency trades near the $100,000 mark for the first time, although by Monday morning it was trading at just above $95,000.
MicroStrategy, once primarily a business software provider, has been buying bitcoin since August 2020 . It ramped up acquisitions of the token this year—especially following Donald Trump’s November 5 election victory—as investors bet on a crypto-friendly administration and Congress.
Why Is MicroStrategy Stock Falling?
MicroStrategy shares jumped in pre-market trading and then fell as markets opened, falling as much as nearly 9% before recouping some of those losses while still trading lower. The company's stock was down roughly 5% in recent trading, though it has gained more than 500% this year-to-date.
The stock's exponential rise has made some investors nervous and put it on the radar of short-sellers. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told CNBC last week that he expects a sharper correction in bitcoin-related stocks such as MicroStrategy than in the cryptocurrency itself. Meanwhile short-seller Citron Research said even though it's bullish on MicroStrategy it opened a short position in the stock as a hedge because it considers the shares 'overheated.'
Update: This story has been updated to add MicroStrategy's most recent bitcoin purchase, share price movements and analyst comments.
